Improvement in methods of ballasting vessels in fort



spondin g parts.

UNITED VSTATES PA'EENT OFFICE.

FRANCESCO DEMARTINI AND JOHN CHERTIZZA, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

Speciiication forming part of Letters Patent No. 126,938, dated May 2l,1872.

Specification describing, a new and useful Improvement in FloatingBa-llastl-Log, inventedby FRANCESCO DEMAETINI and JOHN CHER- TIZZA, ofBrooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York.

Figure l`repres'ents our improved iioating ballast-log as applied'toa'vessel. Fig. 2 is a detail side view of the same.

Similar' letters of reference indicate'corre- Under the presentipractice, when a vessel arrives in port and discharges her cargo,ballast must be immediately taken in to prevent careenin g andconsequent injury to herself or other crafts, as Well as to facilitaterepairs and various other operations incident to preparation for a newvoyage. To avoid the loss of time and the expense, &c., attending thiscourse, we employ ballast-logs, connected with the vessel by ropes orchains that lie alongside thereof', and yet iioat in the Water, ashereinafter described. A represents our ballast-log, which may be madeotl a single stick ofi timber, or it may be made of smaller sticks oftimber bolted to each other to produce a log of the necessary size andWeight. The latter construction We pre'- fer, as it ena-bles the log Ato be made hollow, so that it maybe loaded or Weighted with lead, iron,or other heavy material,W according to the size of the vessel-that is tosay, the ballastlogs will be proportioned in size or weight to thevessel to which they are to be applied. The logs are iii all cases,designed to float or Y be self-sustaining inlgfthe Water, and thus madecapable of being touied from place to place or vessel to vessel. Theyare attached to the vessel by ropes or chains passing through eyebolts Bor other convenient devices, and over the deck, or around any suitablepart of the frame-Work, or otherwise secured, as found practicable orconvenient.

' The logs are not intended to hold the vessel down in the water, butmerely to act as counter or balance-Weights when she attempts to keelover from any cause, either when be towed or lying alongside a Wharf;and it in isevident the chains on one side Will be taut only when thoseon the other are slack, and vice versa, the tendency being to raise the`log upon the rising side out of the water. The

Weight of the log will always prevent this b'eing done, and consequentlythe vessel will be` held in an upright position.

It will also be seen that the chains will require to be shortened orllengthened according "as the vessel is being loaded or unloaded, or

according as shey sinks iu or rises out of the Water. l Y

An incidental but importa-nth advantage of our ballast-logs is theiradaptability to the oflice of fenders, rendering the use of the orf`dinary kind Vfor the most part unnecessary.

What we claim is- The method of ballastin g vessels by means oflioat-ing logs Aof suitable size, Weight, and construction, attached tosaid vessels by ropes 'or chains, and arranged alongside thereof,substantially as specified. Y,

FRANCESCO DEMARTINI. JOHN GHERTIZZA. Witnesses:

JAMES T. GRAHAM, T. B. MosHER.

